Disclaimer: this will mostly be based off of Markiplier's gameplay.

(Trigger warning: talk of bodily harm and deceased bodies)

Freddy Fazbear Pizzaplex
Ken's POV
Before we left the Gator Golf catwalks, I went into Settings on my FazWatch and selected the <<CONNECT TO MONTY>> option so I could continue to communicate with Monty. Once we were connected, my new alligator ally led me to the beginning of a long staircase that lined one of the jungle-painted walls. The metal was dark enough that it blended in with the ochre colors; no wonder none of the other animatronics could find it without a maintenance worker or Monty. I actually had to grip the handrail to remind myself that I was walking on something solid.

On the ground floor, he led me through the wilderness that was his Pizzaplex attraction - faux bushes, plastic tree trunks, bulges in the floor designed to look like small grassy hills. Several security bots also patrolled the green-toned floor with their flashlights. A few of them noticed me and started to advance towards us, but Monty cut them off with a stern growl.

"Don't even bother, boys," He muttered threateningly. "This kid's with me." The bots immediately did 180s on their wheels and sped away; I'm pretty sure I even saw one shudder. Music Man was having its own shake-fest on my shoulder.

I guess not even the S.T.A.F.F. bots dare to mess with Monty. I couldn't tell if that made me feel protected or more nervous.

We eventually came to the silver doors of an elevator, which stood out starkly against the green tones of the jungle-themed attraction. Monty took the liberty of pressing the Freddy-head button to open the doors, then again with the button inside to send it into motion. Then he made a big show of moving a full two feet away from me, his arms crossing over his broad chest. His eyes closed and his snout tilted downwards, almost as if he was sleeping.

More likely, he just didn't want to be disturbed.

I stared at the distance between us with a twinge of sadness. Whatever boundary we'd breached up on the catwalks, it was clearly back in place now.

Nevertheless, I took advantage of the new solidarity to do a self evaluation. My back was a little sore from falling backwards onto the catwalks, but the pain was nothing compared to my previous injuries. My fractured arms were throbbing slightly, though it was mostly an undertone to my certain concussion. One hand reached up to my face while the other went to my knees to check the damage. The bandages the others had put were already peeling. I carefully felt the exposed scabs - they were HUGE. Self-consciously, I licked my fingers and smeared them underneath the bandages, hoping it would be enough to keep them in place for at least a little longer.

Then I cautiously glanced over at Monty, who hadn't moved from his fake-sleeping position. Even though he was by far the scariest of the main mascots, I couldn't help but feel bad for him. He'd finally gotten answers for the strange happenings of the Pizzaplex, but they weren't the answers he'd wanted. What he really wanted to know was what had become of his predecessor, which was one of the many mysteries I still had no solution for.

We both had a theory for what had happened, but my guess was that we both desperately wished it was wrong.

I'll get him an answer, I promised both myself and Monty. I'll get an answer for all of them. For everything.

Even if it kills me.

It was probably only a minute at most, but it felt like hours had passed before the elevator jerked to a stop and the doors opened into a waiting room the same jungle colors as the golf course. Monty finally straightened from his half slouch and quickly strode out of the elevator, not even bothering to slow down for me. I huffed at his brash attitude, though I had no choice but to follow him.

On the other side of the entrance doors was a welcome sight: Chica had stayed true to her promise, and the other animatronics were waiting for us. They jerked to attention when they noticed us coming out. "Ken - you are okay!" Freddy cried out first.

"Thank goodness," Chica said from behind her hands, sounding on the verge of tears.

"Yeah, you really had us going for a bit there," Roxy said nonchalantly enough with her hands on her hips, though a crack in her voice let me know that she had really been worried.

Their concern was touching, but another voice spoke up before I could thank them. "Um... I'm here too, guys." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Monty lift his hand and wave awkwardly.

The others' gazes slid to him. "Monty!" Freddy addressed him; Chica and Roxy stayed silent. "How do you feel?"

Monty groaned and tilted his head from side to side. "To be honest, like my head is caught in a vise grip," He grumbled.

"Join the club," Roxy spoke up, tapping her temple with a green claw. "I've had a pounding headache for the past hour."

"'Kay, good to know," Monty replied with a nod. Our group fell into a tense silence, so he decided to speak up once more, "So... what do we do now?"

"Yeah," Chica agreed, also sounding confused. "We've all been freed from the malware virus thanks to Kenny, but we've never really discussed what we would do when we got the gang back together."

"Vanny's eventually going to figure out that we're no longer infected, if she hasn't already," Roxy pointed out seriously. She gazed out over the rest of the Pizzaplex uneasily. "No telling what she'll try to pull now. We can't just walk around here without a plan."

We fell into silence again, all lost in our own thoughts. But then Freddy turned to me. "Well, Ken?" He asked politely. "What do you think we should do?"

I started. "M-me?" I sputtered. "Y-you're asking me?"

"Of course!" Freddy rebuked me.

"Duh," Roxy added. "We've been following your lead all night, little guy, and so far it's been pretty good." She tilted her head contemptuously towards me. "What's a few more hours?"

"Yeah," Chica agreed again, this time enthusiastically. She clenched her fists and pumped them towards me encouragingly. "You've done so much for us - we'll follow you wherever you want to go!"

They all looked towards Monty, silently begging him to add to the conversation. He just shrugged and contributed his piece, "What they said." Music Man made up for his disinterest by clapping its cymbals vigorously.

I stared at them, open mouthed. There they stood: My allies. A bear, a chicken, a wolf, and an alligator. On my shoulder was a small musical spider. Their shells were collectively stained, greasy, and cracked, but there was no mistaking their original color palettes beneath all of the grime. They had stood on countless stages and had performed for audiences with numbers that stretched into infinity. Kids of all ages had listened to and had been inspired by their creative quotes.

But now they looked to me for guidance.

Sure, I'd technically been telling them what to do for most of the night, but only because they'd asked for my opinion. It was another thing entirely to know that they actually relied on me. I had never been the leader of anything before. With my family's puppet show, it had always been my parents at the reigns. With the Beigoma Academy Bey Club, it was Valt. With the Beasts, it was Ben. With the Masters, it was PIXAL.

I was always the guy on the sidelines, watching and listening to whoever was the leader. It wasn't a lot, but it had given me the opportunity to learn something. There wasn't necessarily a right or wrong way to lead others. Everyone had their own way of doing things, and everyone else could choose to follow them or not.

Well, I thought to myself, gazing into the open faces of my hopeful allies. I'll just start leading my own way and pray to whoever is listening that I know what I'm doing.

"Okay," I started, clapping my hands once. "When this night started, we had only one agenda - help me get out of here. But now we have a few more agendas." I held up a finger. "First, we gotta find Vanessa, or Vanny, or whatever name she's going by, and get her to explain a lot of things. She's connected to this entire thing, and we've gotta find out how and why."

No one contradicted me; even Monty was quiet. Encouraged, I held up another finger and kept going. "Next, we find out exactly what's going on here and find out a way to stop it. Otherwise, this kind of thing will just keep happening - and it might even get worse." I stared at my fingers, deep in thought. "Actually, these agendas are pretty similar, so whichever we get done first, I'm okay with."

The others nodded. "We have seen Vanny's hiding place," Freddy reminded me. "In Fazer Blast. Perhaps she is there as we speak?"

I immediately brightened. "Perfect, Freddy! We could go to Fazer Blast and ambush her! With all of us there, she wouldn't stand a chance!"

The others reacted excitedly. "I like the sound of that plan," Monty snarled, cracking his green knuckles. "I have a few things I want to ask this Miss Bunny."

"We all do," Freddy added, sounding determined. Music Man clicked its teeth and clapped its cymbals, sounding fierce. With a plan in mind, our small group looked brave and ready for the challenges ahead.

And then the lights went out. Even the dancing holograms above the main stage winked out of existence.

"Oh no..." Freddy muttered worriedly. The sound of worried teeth came from my shoulder.

"You have GOT to be kidding me," Roxy complained, glaring towards the ceiling.

"Er... small wrench in things," Chica commented.

"Does this mean...?" Monty asked, hoisting his clenched fists defensively.

"It's okay, this is fine!" I assured them, flailing my hands and thinking fast. "This is actually great - we can use this to our advantage! With the lights off, Vanny won't be expecting an ambush! We'll be able to sneak up on her more effectively!"

The others stopped their worried pacing and stared at me, thinking over my words. "Okay, that takes care of Vanny," Roxy relented. "But what about the creepy Daycare Attendant?"

"Yeah, I don't really feel like being jumped," Monty agreed; he hadn't put his fists down yet.

I glanced around the shadowy main atrium. From what I could see, Moony was nowhere to be found - no red eyes to be seen. "Something tells me that he'll leave us alone," I told them. When my eyes had adjusted enough to make out shapes, I started moving across the atrium floor. "Come on - let's get to Fazer Blast before Vanny finds a way to turn the power back on!"

It took a while, but luckily the others were equipped with night vision, and they led me back to Fazer Blast. Without any Party Bots guarding the entrance, we were free to pile onto the elevator. And it was CRAMPED. Even with me choosing to ride inside Freddy while Music Man perched on his shoulder, I could see through Freddy's eyes that the animatronics were struggling to fit everyone into the tight space. Elbows flew up to unguarded eyes in several instances. In the end, Chica had to perch between Roxy's and Monty's shoulders to ensure that we didn't have to make two stops.

When the elevator started its ascent, I took a deep breath. This was it. The start of the endgame. We were going to find Vanny and she was going to tell us what was happening and how we could stop it. The mix of adrenaline with anticipation and fear was invigorating, but it was also terrifying.

I'd promised that I would get answers for the others even if it killed me. But how far was I willing to go to keep that promise?

I guess I would find out one way or another.

The elevator eventually stopped and the doors opened, revealing the familiar interior of the Fazer Blast waiting room. Chica climbed off of Roxy and Monty, allowing us all to file out. I exited Freddy and Music Man instantly jumped onto my shoulder. We collectively started towards the futuristic door that marked the entrance to the arena.

We were almost there when I realized that one of us was missing.

I turned around to find that Freddy had held back and was staring at the entrance with an unreadable expression. He seemed hesitant to continue. "Freddy?" I asked carefully. "Are you coming?"

He stared for a few more seconds before shaking his head slightly. "This... is my attraction," He explained haltingly; he took a few steps backwards. "I am not... supposed to willingly assist a certain team. That would be... cheating. I am not programmed to cheat."

"Neither are we, but you don't see us complaining!" Roxy shot back, the closest to the door.

"Don't back out on us now, Fazbear!" Monty growled. His twitching claws gave the impression that he fully intended on dragging Freddy into the arena if he had to.

"Come on, Freddy," Chica egged on, ever the cheerleader. "We can't do this without you!"

Freddy shook his head again, this time more insistently. "No - it is against my programming. I will wait out here for you all." He turned towards the darkened gift shop area, like he had done before.

"Okay, that's it!" Monty roared, stepping towards Freddy with his claws outstretched. I stepped into his path and he stopped; Chica and Roxy gasped in the background. Obviously, no one had ever gotten in his way before. "What the HECK are you DOING, kid?"

"Let me handle this, Monty," I beseeched him; I was certain I could get through to Freddy. The green alligator growled, but all he did was shoot me a scalding glare and step away.

With that done, I turned to Freddy, who had turned away from the gift shop to watch the spectacle. "Freddy," I began slowly. "We realize that this is your attraction and that you don't want to go against the rules, but we really need your help with what's to come."

"But the game-!" Freddy protested, but I beat him to it.

"Don't think of this as a game - we all know it's far from one." Everyone grumbled agreeably at that. "This is is real life. So think of this as a battle. A battle that we fully intend on winning. For our sakes as well as everyone who'd ever fallen victim to the Pizzaplex!" I held my fist out to him, the way I'd seen Valt hold his fist out to Shu before and after their matches. "What do you say, Freddy?"

Freddy stared at my fist. I could practically hear the mechanical turmoil in his head, caught between his duty to the Pizzaplex and his duty to help a child. For a full minute, the only sound was that of the gears turning in Freddy's head as he pondered his decision. I was actually starting to think that he was going to bow out of this one.

But then Freddy closed his eyes; when he opened them again, they were slanted in a determined expression. "Alright - let us do it!" He declared, meeting my fist with his.

Everyone rejoiced in their own way. "Yay~!" Chica sang in delight, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Finally," Monty muttered, putting his fists away for the moment.

"Let's go!" Roxy exclaimed, holding up her own fist in triumph.

Music Man was almost singing through its cymbals on my shoulder, doing a little dance with its tiny feet.

I myself smiled up at Freddy gratefully. "Thank you," I told him.

Freddy almost seemed to smile back at me. "Of course, Ken," He responded. His lit-up gaze swept towards the door to the arena. "Well, what are we waiting for? I said let us do this!"

Through the door, we met the Party Bot that reminded us of the many Fazer Blast rules, though I doubt any of us were really listening. As soon as the adjoining door rolled up, we were off. "Vanny's hideout is accessible via a vent opening in the Superstar Lounge," I informed the others, taking the lead as we sped down the hallway. "But if we really want to ambush her, we're gonna have to find a way to surround her. Freddy - what do ya got?"

"The Fazer Blast catwalks are accessible via a series of stairs starting in the main arena," Freddy supplied, right behind me.

"Perfect," I replied over my shoulder. "Since me and Music Man are the smallest out of all of us, we'll take the vent in the Superstar Lounge. The rest of you, take the stairs up to the catwalks. Freddy, where's the entrance to the Superstar Lounge?"

"Coming up on your left!" Freddy told me, indicating a roll-up door that we were approaching fast.

"Got it!" I shot back. As soon as the door opened up due to our vicinity to it, I dove through it.

"Good luck, Kenny!" Chica called after me before the door closed. The sound of their footsteps receding let me know that they were continuing to the main arena.

This time, the familiar homeyness of the Superstar Lounge only vaguely registered in my mind's eye - I only had eyes for the open vent in the corner of the room. I rushed over to it and slowed only slightly in order to crouch and enter it. The central lights hadn't come back on the entire time, and there weren't any lights in the passageway, so I had to rely on touch in order to make my way through. I found the first platform and then the second vent. I'd almost gotten to the catwalks when the lights suddenly came back on and reflected through the vent.

I froze in the passageway, not daring to move a muscle. What. Happened? From what I could recall, there weren't any Recharge Stations in Fazer Blast - or at least, I didn't get the opportunity to use one the last time I'd been through here.

So if the others hadn't used a Recharge Station to restart the power... then that meant only one other person did.

As if on cue, a glitching feminine voice rang through the vents. "Well well well - the gangs' all here!"

VANNY. She was here and she had found the others. I shrank further into the vents as footsteps echoed overhead.

"Vanny!" Freddy's authoritative voice cried out. "How did you-?"

"What?" Vanny interrupted him, sounding bored. "Did you really think that I wouldn't have a way to restart the power without a Recharge Station? I may not be an animatronic, but I have my ways regardless."

"Enough!" Freddy shot back. "It is time that you answer for your crimes!"

"For YOUR sake, I sincerely hope that those answers are good," Monty's snarling voice added to the mix. He cracked his knuckles loud enough for me to hear them.

For a second, everything was quiet. Then a laugh akin to nails on a chalkboard echoed through the vents; it made my skin crawl. "And for YOUR sake, I sincerely hope that there's an afterlife for naughty animatronics!" She replied bittersweetly.

"W-what do you mean by that?" Chica's frightened voice asked.

"You see, I'd assumed that your little friend had figured out a way to disable the malware virus when I lost contact with you, my dear Chica," Vanny happily explained; Chica BUCKED in defiance. "And I had a feeling that he would come for the rest of you. Going against orders is a very BAD thing to do." She sounded disappointed, and I pictured her shaking those long felt ears of hers. "At Freddy Fazbear Mega Pizzaplex, we prize ourselves on our excellent service from our BELOVED animatronics! In order for us to keep our spotless reputation, we have to make sure every mess is quickly swept under the rug and dealt with accordingly. So when an animatronic goes against its orders..." A pause in which the clicking of a button could be heard. "WE HAVE NO FURTHER NEED OF THAT ANIMATRONIC."

Loud screeching noises echoed through the arena. A bad feeling started to curl in my stomach, and I cautiously pulled myself through the vents. Once I reached the catwalks, I stayed on my hands and knees and peeked around the corner. Immediately, my lip curled. Standing in the hideout window, in all of her felt costume glory, was Vanny, her red eyes glowing in the light from the arena. In her hand, she held a remote with a single circular red button. As I watched, she slowly reached down and picked up another remote, this one with a single red Freddy-head button. Curious as to what it was for, I slowly turned my head further to gaze down into the main arena.

The bad feeling exploded into a full blown terrified stomachache.

In the center of the arena was Freddy, Chica, Roxy, and Monty. And surrounding them were nearly two dozen S.T.A.F.F bots.

But not the security and cleaner bots I've seen around the Pizzaplex.

The ones with the nightmare smiles Chica and I had ran into down in the sewers.

And something told me that they didn't really care much for the animatronics.

"While you all and your little friend were running around," Vanny continued gleefully; when I glanced back at her, she was practically dancing in place. "I was busy gathering the cavalry. Like any villain of the story, I figured you wouldn't go away easily, so I took extra precautions. And I'm afraid that these S.T.A.F.F. bots have been in the basement for so long that their central systems have been fried, so they can only respond to one voice: MINE."

My allies flinched as the nightmare bots jerked to attention around them. "Don't worry about your little friend," Vanny said in mock assurance, making me freeze. "As soon as I find where he's hiding, he'll join the rest of you in the scrap heap."

I breathed a small breath of relief. She doesn't know where I am - I can still get the jump on her!

But my relief was short lived when Vanny started to move again. She waved teasingly down at the animatronics before pressing the Freddy-head button in her hand and uttering a single command: "DISASSEMBLE THE FREDDY FAZBEAR BAND."

Almost immediately, the nightmare bots started to advance on the mascots. Each of them crouched into defensive positions, but it was no use. At the end of the day, the nightmare bots were still smaller and thinner and nastier. Sooner or later, they would overtake the larger animatronics.

My gaze whipped around to Vanny again. She wasn't paying attention to anything beneath her, seemingly hyper focused on the show down below. I could probably sneak up and enter the room without her noticing. My feet started moving to do just that.

The cries of Chica below stopped me, though. I squeezed my eyes shut in concentration, breathing into my palm to avoid detection. It doesn't matter if I get the jump on Vanny, I told myself. If Freddy and the others get disassembled because of me, everything will be for nothing.

I have to save them.

Protect those that cannot protect themselves.

With that single thought pushing me forward, I quickly pulled Music Man off of my shoulder in order to leap to my feet and rush to the edge of the catwalk, ignoring both it and Vanny's cries of shock. PIXAL's training took over my mind as I grabbed the railing and pulled myself over, vaulting onto the arena below. Both the animatronics and the nightmare bots jolted in surprise as I hit the floor. "Ken!" Freddy exclaimed from where he was holding off a few bots. "What are you doing?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" I asked rhetorically, straightening up and staring down the nightmare bot closest to me. "I'm protecting my friends."

"DISASSEMBLE THE BOY, TOO!!" Vanny screamed somewhere in the distance. I smirked under the shadow of my face. Good.

As soon as the nightmare bots started to advance towards me, I was ready. I aimed a sweeping high kick toward one's head, then used the momentum to body check another. My hand gripped the head of one bot, then used its entire body as a flying bowling ball to knock down an entire group of them. When one got close enough to grab me from behind, its head was met with my leg. I noticed two bots trying to close me in - when they were nearly on me, I jumped up and grabbed their heads to smash them into each other.

The entire arena was silent in the aftermath of my first assaults. Then Vanny went absolutely ballistic, "FORGET THE ANIMATRONICS - JUST GO FOR THE BOY!!"

"Bad idea," I muttered under my breath.

Freddy and the others were released as the other bots started to come for me. They were met with surprises, as well as my fists and feet. I didn't think - as soon as I saw one or two of them approaching me, I launched some form of attack with my body. What was once a solid body soon became a broken piece of metal on the ground. The feeling of metal against my hand give and then crumble was honestly... AMAZING.

Soon enough, the arena was littered with the bodies of the bots who had been stupid enough to come for me. I stood in place, my chest heaving, staring at the still forms. Injuries that I hadn't known I'd gathered started throbbing, though I paid the pain no attention.

I... had won.

"K-Ken?" Freddy spoke up after a few minutes, sounding nervous. "S-since when did you know those moves?"

I rolled my shoulder before replying loosely, "I've been taking lessons."

"D-did you... use those moves... on us?" Chica asked, sounding fearful.

"No," I told her simply; I refused to meet her eyes as shame over my actions spread over my cheeks.

"Why?" Monty added. He sounded genuinely confused.

"I didn't want to hurt you guys," I informed him. I noticed that one of the nightmare bots started to move again; I picked it up and delivered a swift head butt, caving in its forehead. "These guys, I don't mind leaving a few dents in."

"AWESOME," Roxy complimented me. When I raised my head to her, she was gazing at me with a mixture of wonder and fear. "Absolutely AWESOME." My cheeks inflamed even more and I averted my eyes.

"So that's why..." A glitching voice floated over the battlefield. VANNY. I'd fully forgotten that she was there. When I looked back up at the catwalk, she was at the edge and staring directly at me, vibrating with some kind of sick excitement. "That's why... HE wanted YOU."

I tilted my head. "HE?" I asked loudly. "Who's HE?"

Vanny seemed to catch herself, snapping her head back and slipping into the shadows of the catwalk. I could make out her hitting herself in the forehead with her clothed fists, all while the hushed declaration of "Dammit, dammit, dammit" made its way down to the arena.

"She's probably going to run," I told the others, crouching slightly. "Get ready to apprehend her at the staircase."

"But how are you going to get back up there?" Freddy asked, indicating the distance between me and the catwalk.

I gauged the distance and grinned. "You'll see," I replied simply. While Freddy was still pondering that response, I ran to the nearest neon wall and grabbed its top, hoisting myself up. I didn't dare take a breath - while my momentum was still going, I jumped up and grabbed the lowermost railing of the catwalk. I then used the railings as a ladder system, climbing over them rung by rung until I was pulling myself back onto the catwalk.

Vanny eventually realized I was no longer on the arena floor, and that I was effectively blocking her escape via the vent. "Nowhere to run now, Vanny," I bluffed, positioning myself like a goalie. Music Man crawled up from where it had waited in the shadows and perched itself menacingly on my shoulder.

Vanny stared at me with her chilling red eyes before chuckling lowly. "You're strong - I'll give you that, little boy," She told me condescendingly. "But let's see if you're fast, too!" Without much warning, she turned and sprinted down the opposite length of the catwalk, towards where I guessed was the stairs. Letting out a small cry, I tried to give chase, but she was already out of sight. All I could do was continue on and hope that the others got to her before she got away.

Sure enough, the sounds of a struggle and an angry captive floated up to me from somewhere below, followed by Chica yelling up to me, "Kenny - we've got her!" I breathed deeply before continuing down the stairs to claim our prize. About halfway down, I discovered the others each trying and mostly succeeding with holding down one of Vanny's limbs each. Not for lack of trying, though - the felt bunny was kicking and screaming enough to rival a captive wildcat.

"Great job, guys!" I commended my allies, striding the rest of the way to them. "Now, let's get something out of the way." It took a few tries, but I was able to position my hands around the bunny mask and yanked it off. Underneath was a young woman with damp blonde hair and flushed skin from struggling, and flashing dark eyes. The glare on her face could have incinerated concrete.

"Vanessa," I said with a sigh.

She bared her teeth in annoyance. "What? Not surprised that it's me?" She bit out.

"To be honest, we figured out that it was you, like, four hours ago," I told her emotionlessly. Vanessa spat through her teeth, but said nothing else to the fact. We weren't done talking, though. "Alright, spill it, Vanessa! What's been happening at the Pizzaplex?" I demanded, jamming my finger into her collarbone.

Vanessa laughed so hard, spit flew out of her mouth. "You think that just because you found out my secret identity AND restrained me with these INFURIATING ANIMATRONICS..." She strained against her captors for emphasis. "I'm supposed to tell YOU things?" She giggled; it bordered on maniacal. "And they think I'M the crazy one."

"We already know most things," I informed her calmly. "We just need you to fill in the details."

Vanessa scowled. "And what makes you think that I'm going to tell you ANYTHING?" She growled.

"For one, I'm sure you're plenty aware of what the animatronics can do if they get triggered," I explained, glancing at my allies, who nodded back at me. "Secondly, I'm sure you're aware of what THIS can do." I pulled out the FazerBlaster from my coat; it had been miraculously saved from the fight I'd just been through.

Vanessa took one look at the toy gun and smirked. "I've already figured out that you were somehow able to reverse the malware virus with that thing," She said self-importantly. "But the thing is - I'm not an animatronic!" She leaned back almost lazily against her restraints. "What makes you think that it'll work on me?"

"The system that erased the virus won't work on you, sure," I told her, making a show of looking over the FazerBlaster. "But from my understanding, aiming one of these too close to a person's eyes can make them go blind." When I glanced back at Vanessa, she was pale.

I grinned. Hook, line, and sinker. "I hope you're prepared to spend the rest of your life without sight," I said nonchalantly. I slowly put the gun in both of my hands and aimed directly in her eyes. "3... 2..."

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, I'LL TALK!!" Vanessa screamed, hurriedly squeezing her eyes shut and turning away from me.

I let the FazerBlaster drop with a sigh of relief, though I tried to pass it off as one of annoyance. I'd had no intention of actually using it on her, so I had no idea what I would have done if she'd stayed silent. "Good - we're in agreement."

Vanessa turned back to me and let her gaze drop. "What do you want to know?" She asked thickly.

Monty opened his mouth, but I beat him to the punch, "Let's start in order: What happened to Foxy? What called for his decommissioning?" Monty's gaze shot to me and he growled, but he did nothing to change my request. He was curious, too.

Vanessa stared at the floor before explaining in a low voice, "Foxy used to be such a great predator. When he was put on the scent of a defenseless child, he was like a bloodhound - impossible to stop. He was PERFECT." I shuddered at her tone, but she kept going. "Then one night, when we tried to activate his signal, it refused to engage. Later, we found him WITH the child we'd been hunting. Though instead of tearing the kid limb from limb like he was supposed to do, he'd actually tried to HELP the pathetic thing. The idiot had even tried to hide it in his pirate coat to sneak it past the S.T.A.F.F. bots. He was a failure." Her tone dripped with disgust. "So he had to go."

My blood ran cold. "What did you do with him?" I asked in a whisper.

Vanessa glanced in disinterest over her shoulder at her captors. "Well, these guys were too far away, and the mess had to be dealt with sooner rather than later. So I called up my friends from the basement to deal with him." She turned her gaze over my shoulder, to the arena and the battlefield of nightmare bots. "Too bad you destroyed them - they were the only things in this place that really understood me."

The others looked sick; I probably looked the same, but we had to keep going. "And what about Bonnie? He was the next to be decommissioned." Monty perked up at this. This was it. The answers he had been waiting for.

Vanessa stuck out her tongue, as if she was a kid and something looked positively disgusting. "Same with Foxy - Bonnie was a prime predator, but when we tried to activate him one night, he fell silent. The hunt was an easy one, so he wasn't needed, so it was passed off as a glitch. Though the next day, he went up to Montgomery Gator here-" Monty flinched at her attention. "-and asked if he'd remembered anything from the night before. Now, Monty had done an excellent job of hunting the previous night, but of course, he didn't know that. Monty turned Bonnie away, but he came after the poor dear later and asked the same question. It was becoming clear that Bonnie would become a problem in the future, so... he had to go."

Monty's breathing turned shallow and he pressed his claws into Vanessa's arm, making her wince. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM, YOU WITCH?" He growled in her ear.

Vanessa turned to look at him and gave the smile of a psychopath. "I can't believe you don't remember! I mean, I can, because your memory was thoroughly erased, but it was so MEMORABLE! And it was so EASY, truly. All that was needed was to give your signal a small push, and you were an absolute ANIMAL! You dug your claws into his shell multiple times and pushed him straight off of the Gator Golf catwalks!" Monty's eyes widened, but Vanessa wasn't finished. "I still can't believe how simple it was to trigger you! You must have been driven by your jealousy of him! It was actually a challenge to reign you back in and drain your memory."

Monty actually stumbled; we all did at this revelation. Monty DID have a hand in Bonnie's accident.

It wasn't his fault, I told myself, digging my nails into my palms and gritting my teeth. And only a few more questions to go. "And Luis Palmgreen? The Daytime Security Guard that supposedly moved away?"

Vanessa threw her head back and groaned loudly. "Oh, that Luis! He was a real thorn in my side. I'd suspected that he'd found a way to dismantle the virus - witnesses say that he was seen with the animatronics on the same days that their signals went silent. My guess is that you found what he'd used to do it." I unconsciously glanced down to the FazerBlaster still in my grip, and Vanessa nodded. "Yup, that must be it.

"Anyway, if I didn't do something soon, he might have ruined everything. So I came up to him and told him that he'd been called down to the main office. I let him alone for a minute to gather his thoughts, put together his story, write in that little diary of his - yeah, I knew about the experiment logs," She said when she saw my surprised look. "And I walked him in the direction of the main office. Told him I knew a shortcut - getting counted as tardy wouldn't help his case - and took him down to the sewers. There, I slit his throat and dumped him into the garbage piles." She snorted. "There's so many down there and the smell is so horrendous already, no one would ever be able to tell if there was a body down there.

"Afterwards, I went back to Parts and Service to find what he had used on the animatronics. Couldn't find it though - if there was something Luis was good at, it was hiding what he wasn't supposed to be doing."

I felt physically sick and I had to grab the railing to keep myself upright. I had WALKED down there - Chica and I had WALKED DOWN THERE, unaware the entire time that we were probably walking over a dead body. I glanced at Chica, finding that she was swaying on her feet.

Vanessa seemed to realize that her restraints were weakening and looked incredibly pleased with herself. "Any more questions, Ken?" She asked sweetly.

I flinched; I'd forgotten that she knew my name. I couldn't let it get to me, though. "A couple more. First, why did you drag ME into this?"

Vanessa's expression turned to one of annoyance. "Hell if I know. All I was told was to pick you up from school and bring you here for our little game. Although, after seeing you in action..." The look she gave me made me want to throw up. "I can understand the curiosity."

She was told to do it. That played into my next inquiry. "Final question: WHY? What's the purpose of ANY of this?"

If Vanessa looked crazy before, she looked absolutely maniacal now. Her mouth made a smile so wide, it was a wonder her face didn't split in two. "WHY? That's easy - because IT'S easy. Because I CAN. Because I was given the TOOLS to. Children are sheep. Children are prey. And prey serves no purpose but to be hunted." A low laugh started in her throat. "A wonderful man opened up my eyes to this awesome truth, and the very least I can do I to repay his wisdom is follow his lead!"

Her laughing gained strength. "The only purpose of prey is to be hunted, and the only purpose of the predator is to hunt. Luckily for me, I was given the greater of these purposes. My purpose is to serve my master and fulfill his dream - lift him to god status! And if that means staining this entire place red with blood, so be it!"

Vanessa delved into a psychopathic display of laughter, rocking back and forth in her captors' arms. The others looked both sick and angry; holding her seemed to pain them. I was no different - in fact, I wanted to be nowhere near her. With Music Man shaking on my shoulder and my own fingers shaking around the FazerBlaster, I started walking backwards up the stairs.

Before I could get completely out of sight, though, Vanessa stopped laughing and started shrieking. Her entire body convulsed with pain instead of laughter, causing the others to relinquish their holds on her limbs. She fell to the hard metal stairs in a spasming heap, her eyes rolling back in her head and froth pouring from her mouth. After about 30 seconds, she fell silent and still.

At first, no one said anything. Everyone was in too much shock. Then Roxy finally spoke up, "Did she... laugh herself to death?"

It wasn't an appropriate comment, but it was enough to break the spell. Immediately, we surrounded Vanessa's unmoving body, unsure of what to do. "Uh... Freddy," I tried. "Diagnosis?"

The bear nodded uneasily and used his eyes to scan Vanessa. When he was done, he straightened and revealed his findings. "It seems like a short clonic seizure. Nothing of importance seems to have been damaged, though - she should wake up within the hour."

"And we're supposed to be happy about that?" Monty growled; he was standing off to the side and clenching his arms.

"Hopefully she'll be in the back of a police cruiser before she wakes up," I told them; Music Man nodded its head in agreement. I looked down and toed Vanessa's leg cautiously, semi-expecting her to jump up and start ranting again.

I was about to ask if one of the others could call 911 when I saw that one of her eyes was slightly open. I kneeled down to get a closer look. What I found was surprising. "Hey guys, check this out," I told them, confused. "Freddy, can you light up your eyes and direct them over her eye?"

Freddy seemed confused, but he complied. Within seconds, his gaze was trained on Vanessa's face - more specifically, her eye.

Before, I'd assumed that her eyes were dark because that was just their color, but upon closer inspection, I found out that it was because her pupils were huge. A thin ring of green lined the black circles - her true irises.

"What do you make of this?" I asked Freddy. I was really wishing that PIXAL was here right about now.

"Enlarged pupils are typically a symptom of being under the influence," Freddy supplied; he also seemed confused by this turn of events.

"So she's a druggie?" Roxy asked, sounding even more disgusted.

"Or...?" There had to be more.

Freddy was quiet for a bit, both of us deep in our own thoughts. When we looked at each other again, we both came to the same conclusion: "BRAINWASHING."

I brought my face a little closer to Vanessa's, no longer greatly repulsed by her. "Vanessa - are you in there?" I asked loudly. "My name is Ken - or maybe you already know my name, I'm not sure. We know what's going on now and we want to help you. How can we do that?"

For a second, there was no reaction; Vanessa's face remained placid. Then her lips opened the slightest bit and a small gust of air blew out. It happened again and again for a total of six times, then repeated, and it seemed to cause her great pain. I brought my ear closer to her mouth. It wasn't just air she was exhaling - it was WORDS.

"Behind Roxy Raceway is the mastermind."

—————

7337 words.

*Starts playing "It's Going Down* from the "Descendants 2" soundtrack*

IT IS GOING DOWN!!!